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Posted Mon Jan 18 2010: from UCSD, via EurekAlert:
Wilder weather exerts a stronger influence on biodiversity than steadily changing conditions http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1263827836
Climate scientists predict more frequent storms, droughts, floods and heat waves as the Earth warms. Although extreme weather would seem to challenge ecosystems, the effect of fluctuating conditions on biodiversity actually could go either way. Species able to tolerate only a narrow range of temperatures, for example, may be eliminated, but instability in the environment can also prevent dominant species from squeezing out competitors.... "It may depend on the predictability of the environment. If you have a lot of violent changes through time, species may not be able to program their life cycles to be active when conditions are right. They need the ability to read the cues, to hatch out at the right time," Shurin said. "If the environment is very unpredictable, that may be bad for diversity, because many species just won't be able to match their lifecycles to that."
[Read more stories about: weather extremes, ecosystem interrelationships]

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'Doc Jim says:
Can't they just evolve for predictable unpredictability?

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